Twinning (Years 7 to 9)
St Andrew’s has adopted a model for coeducation in our School which will meet the changing physical, emotional and intellectual needs of both boys and girls. Building on our experience in coeducation in the Senior College, we have developed a model that is informed by current neurological research and takes into account divergent maturation rates through the Middle School years.
St Andrew's caters for the specific needs of boys and girls in Years 7 to 9 through ‘twinned’ or separate boys and girls classes, in core subjects such as English, Mathematics and Science and coeducational classes in all other subjects. Although boys and girls study the same curriculum, the teaching styles and resources used in class are modified to suit the needs of each class and gender.
This decision was not taken lightly and was based on much research both in Australia and overseas to examine the issues and challenges of coeducation in the younger years of schooling.
Since the 1970’s educators have generally ignored gender differences, especially those which emerge during adolescence. It was thought that teaching boys and girls in the same way at the same time was the only way to close the ‘gender gap’ in academic achievement, which at that time was particularly focused on improving the performance of girls in ‘non traditional’ areas such as maths, sciences and technical subjects. It has become clear that this approach generally has not worked, and in some cases has in fact seems to have intensified gender based stereotypes. One recent US study (2004) suggests that in the last 30 years the number of girls studying subjects such as physics has halved and fewer boys are studying humanities based subjects such as history, languages and music.
Girls continue to perform well in external examinations in all settings – both single sex and coeducational schools. Higher levels of social turmoil, reckless behaviour, higher suicide rates and failing academic achievement in young men over recent years has led to the growth of interest and research in the area of boys’ education. Research in the area of the physiology of the male and female brain that has concluded that boys and girls brains mature at different rates has enormous implications for educators.
